There are many instances, particularly in a hospital environment, in which it is necessary to seal an area or room for medical purposes. For instance, some rooms must be kept highly sterilized and thus separate from the general hospital areas, while in other instances a contamination zone needs to be kept sealed. A transition between such zones, that is from a sterile or contaminated zone to a general area, normally provides for sterilization. For this purpose it is common to locate between the two rooms a sterilization unit, for instance an autoclave, which provides the entry and exit points between the rooms. Passage from one room to another must therefore be through the sterilization unit.
In practice, an autoclave or other sterilization unit is fitted in an aperture of a wall between the two rooms and sealed to the walls by a sealing device, commonly a gasket or the like. The autoclave includes doors at either side, each leading to a respective room.
A problem occurs with conventional arrangements in that it is difficult to verify the quality of the seals between the autoclave and the walls and thus whether there may be any leakage which compromises the cleanliness or containment.